Tag: onshore

Fourth Update of October 2020 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

14th Nov 2020 • 0 Comments

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Tuesday – 20th October

A UK Government press release has announced an extension for a price cap on domestic energy bills until end of 2021.

Thursday – 22nd October

UK Government has published energy statistics for 2019 showing all sectors (industrial, domestic, transport) were slightly down in terms of demand compared to the previous year. Transport remains the highest demand but showing a significant uptake in biofuels.

An onshore wind farm comprising 22 turbines has been approved for development in Scotland. 220m turbines are the tallest to be given planning permission.

Friday – 23rd October

UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced 8 GW of new renewable energy is under construction. 6 GW are offshore wind projects.

Sunday – 25th October

BBC reports an expert panel saying technology isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ for climate change. The article says that ‘tackling climate change will need action right across society and the economy with a host of new incentives, laws, rules, bans, appliance standards, taxes and institutional innovations’.

Third Update of June 2020 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

1st Jul 2020 • 0 Comments

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Monday – 15th June

Bloomberg article claims UK is paying £1 billion each year in direct subsidies for electricity generation from burning wood pellets as well as £13 billion in tax breaks.

Wednesday – 17th June

Plans for UK’s biggest onshore wind farm are to go ahead on Shetland Isles north of mainland UK. 103 turbines will provide electricity generation capacity of 0.44 GW and cost £580 million to construct. Development is subject to permission being granted for an export cable connection to the mainland.

Recent sunny weather in the UK has caused records to be broken for solar power generation, reaching almost 10 GW on 20th April, approximately 30% of electricity demand at the time.

Thursday – 18th June

UK Government press release announces that construction has begun on the world’s largest liquid air battery in North West England. The plan is to use renewable energy during times of excess supply to liquefy air. Liquid air will transfer back to a gas, driving turbines to generate electricity, during periods of higher demand.

UK Government is funding research at Birmingham University into hydrogen as a fuel for trains.

Friday – 19th June

UK Energy Systems research body (“Catapult”) has made the case for increased levels of nuclear power in the energy mix in support of net zero emissions targets. The ‘Nuclear for Net Zero’ report includes support for small modular reactors (“SMR”) and hydrogen production.

Almost 2 GW of offshore wind power generation came online in 2019 bringing total capacity to almost 10GW.

Saturday – 20th June

In a BBC interview, the UK energy minister says shale gas industry is over ‘for now’.

Sunday – 21st June

A disused gas network in Teesside will be used as a pilot to test procedures for transporting hydrogen as a zero-carbon heating fuel.

Third Update of April 2020 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

20th Apr 2020 • 0 Comments

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Wednesday – 15th April

The head of UK Oil and Gas Authority says the energy transition might be part of the way out of the current downturn. Recent meetings with operators were encouraging regarding energy transition. “CCS (carbon capture and storage), hydrogen and subsea engineering, including repurposing and reusing valuable infrastructure are some of the key areas being progressed”.

UK Government Department for Transport has awarded funds to examine the potential for carbon capture and storage of fuel from shipping. The article quotes a cost of converting engines to another fuel as an alternative solution for net-zero emissions, at about $1 trillion globally (for context, global GDP for 2017 was estimated as $128 trillion).

Friday – 17th April

A gas plant capable of rapidly delivering 20 MW of power generation when renewable power generators fluctuate has been brought on-line in Greater Manchester.

Energy Networks Association has launched a programme to examine and promote changes to the gas network in order to be able to transfer from natural gas to hydrogen using the existing infrastructure in support of net-zero emissions targets.

The UK Government has announced reinstatement of onshore wind and solar PV in 2021 round of Contracts for Difference bids. The article mentions that 3.8 GW of total onshore wind capacity of 4.2 GW is in Scotland.

Saturday – 18th April

National Grid reports changes to domestic demand for electricity as many have begun working from home recently. Overall, household demand is up but also, early morning demand is down as fewer people are getting up early to start the commute and there is a surge in demand at lunchtime which was previously the lowest demand period of the working day.

BBC reports on a technology which can reduce the storage pressure of fuel in vehicles using hydrogen.

First Update of March 2020 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

11th Mar 2020 • 0 Comments

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Monday – 2nd March

More than 12 million UK homes (about half) are rated below C Grade (scale A to G) for energy efficiency.

A consortium led by BP and Shell has launched a Hydrogen Taskforce to examine and promote the role of hydrogen in meeting UK net zero emissions targets as well as aims for UK to develop a role in global hydrogen solutions.

Tuesday – 3rd March

UK Government has lifted opposition to onshore wind power generation allowing onshore wind to compete for financial support with other renewable projects.

Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage Project is moving to the next stage of development. Acorn aims to be the first CCS plant in UK. Based at Saint Fergus in NE Scotland, the project will convert natural gas from the north sea into hydrogen for blending into the grid; then capture and store the Carbon Dioxide by-product.

Wednesday – 4th March

A company will open the first hydrogen refuelling station in central Scotland near Edinburgh. Company Director quotes the need for urgent action like this to meet longer-term emissions targets and support policies regarding petrol/diesel/hybrid vehicles.

UK Government has announced plans to increase the amount of ethanol in petrol in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. Transport Secretary claims it to be the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the UK roads. Article also shows almost 5-fold increase in purchase of battery electric vehicles (BEV’s) in previous 5 years in UK.

Thursday – 5th March

A briefing from the UK House of Commons Library lays out the status of UK nuclear power: UK has 15 existing reactors contributing about 25% of power as ‘base load’. 13 reactors are in various stages of construction or planning including Hinkley Point in SW England.

Friday – 6th March

45 households in London have taken part in a UK Government trial using household batteries to store non-peak demand electricity for use at peak demand.

Ahead of this week’s UK Government budget, the nuclear industry has warned that 2050 net zero emissions cannot be achieved without commitment to further new nuclear plants. Article points out that nuclear power provides 20% of UK electricity and that all but one of the existing fleet will be closed down in the next ten years.